Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot controller and a machine learning device, and in particular to a controller, a machine learning device and a machine learning method for learning an optimal robot operation start condition.
Description of the Related Art
There is an article carrier system which follows and takes up at least one article flowing on a carrier device such as a conveyor (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-063214). In such an article carrier system, an article which reaches a predetermined operation start position set in advance is detected by an image pickup apparatus or the like attached to an upper part of the carrier device or an arm of a robot, and the robot follows and grasps the detected article, and stores the grasped article into a storage container or a storage space, as shown in FIG. 9. The operation start position shown in FIG. 9 is decided by a skilled worker or the like.
In such a related-art technique as described above, however, since the robot starts to follow an article which has exceeded a position arbitrarily decided in advance first, the robot may perform a useless motion if a position away from an optimal position is incorrectly set as the position to start following. Further, there is a problem that it is difficult for an inexperienced worker to decide an optimal operation start position according to ability specific to a robot and arrangement of the robot.